Chapter 1090 – Dynamic Knock

000

“Mr. Melusine has become a demon again!?”

When Sasha raises her voice like that, the pink weasel rises from her floor and looks down at her hands and feet.

And then I touched my body here and there-

“Huh, why!? Is it because of the explosion a little while ago!?”

He said, looking more embarrassed than ever before and holding her face down.

It must have been a very serious situation for me, but because of the long, furry body that grew out of it, it seemed like nothing more than an animal rubbing its face to wash it.

“Phew, you have the right personality, Ms. Melusine. I’m glad.”

Sasha will probably answer that way after seeing Melusine’s reaction.

Judging by the way he spoke, fortunately, it seemed like he had not returned to being the mischievous and reckless beast he was back then.

“It’s not a relief at all! Not only me, but the children of Bangui University have also become like this!”

As he said so, Melusine would point with his short front legs to the three little puppies tangled before his eyes.

“… Have we also changed?”

“That’s not possible! It was a little far away!”

“Because we were in the same room…”

In the case of the women, they could tell that they were Banguidae people because there were even clothes lying around them.

However, she had a more calm demeanor than Melu Jin, and it was fortunate that one could tell who was who by the single, two, and three stripes on her head.

“Quartz, this is…”

Rather, Kshat, who was watching the scene, was more embarrassed than they were and asked Quartz who was watching next to her.

“I’m not an expert in magic, but… I’ve seen something similar before. It was a trap I stepped on in a dungeon that temporarily changed my appearance into a ‘monster’.”

While saying that, Quartz stepped into the room and lifted the three demonic beasts that had been transformed into their disciples.

“Wow…”

“I’m sorry, old man…”

When the level of one’s gaze is suddenly raised, Dryne is embarrassed, and the child looks angry as if he has been shamed.

“Don’t worry. It will naturally return to its original state over time.”

Quartz simply scolded his students kindly.

“For a trap… It’s in bad taste.”

As Kuon says so, he scans the remnants of magical power remaining in the room.

If this was some kind of curse, I was checking to see if I could solve it with my own magic, but I had no choice but to raise my hands as the magic was quite complicated for a curse.

A magic that forcibly changes the human race.

Perhaps it was ancient magic, or it could have been magic created even earlier, in the primordial era.

I was curious what Lila’s expression would be when she saw it, but—

“Now that I think about it, Lord Melusine, what was the crystal ball you were trying to retrieve?”

“Ah!”

In response to Kshat’s question, Melusine recalled her memory of being blown away by the shock from before and hurriedly rotated her body 360 degrees to find the crystal ball.

A trap had been triggered when I held it in my hand and pulled it from the pedestal a little while ago, so there was a high possibility that it would have fallen somewhere now that its body had become so small.

“I found it!”

And, her keen gaze stopped when she noticed something sparkling among her models.

It must be her, it must have been the crystal ball she had found.

She then moves the two black tentacles that grow on her back.

Sigh! As she flew through the air with a roar, it quickly passed between her models, retrieved her rolling crystal ball, and brought it in front of her.

“It probably didn’t crack or anything from the impact of the fall, right?”

As she said that, she looked at the crystal ball and, fortunately, there were no signs of cracks anywhere.

“Even if the thief who tried to steal the crystal ball turned into a magical beast and missed, he might have been confident that it wouldn’t be ruined.”

When Amelia says that, Melusine nods her head.

“I even prepared a puzzle and prepared it in a place where you have to open it, so I guess I should hope that there is some relevant information.”

“If it’s a crystal ball used to store records, Lila will be able to check inside.”

When Kuon nodded her head at Melusin’s words, Amelia looked around and found her.

“Now that I think about it, Lila didn’t come into this room?”

“Ah. If it were her, I would have gone to the hallway opposite her.”

“The room we checked was Maxwell’s room, and this is Laplace’s room…”

Then, Fleur’s face covered by the gas mask moved and headed in the direction Lila had gone in earlier.

There is only one remaining room of an unidentified executive.

It was the room of Oldburn Descartes, Fleur’s grandfather.

Then, the first thing to move was, of course, Fleur’s foot.

This time, instead of sending a signal by slightly pulling Kshat’s arm, he took long strides.

She was moving forward with her strides like never before, but she was still holding on to Kshat’s sleeve, so Kshat would say ‘uh-uh’ and move as if he was being dragged by her.

“Now, wait a minute, miss! No matter what, I’m leaving the others behind!”

“Well, since it’s related to one’s own flesh and blood, it’s worth it. Let’s go first, I’ll investigate this room a little more.”

Quartz let the two go while saying so, and Sasha also picked up Meluzin and held her in her arms.

“Ta, it’s warm and soft…!”

“Ugh… It’s humiliating, but for some reason, I hate myself for being happy when I’m praised…!”

At Sasha’s words, Meluzin hugged her head once again.

And, Kuon will accept the crystal ball she was holding with her senses.

“Let’s go and check it out too.”

001

Fleur quickly moves her feet and arrives at the final room, which is tightly closed.

“I can’t see Laila. It looks like she’s already gone inside.”

Kshat stood next to Fleur and looked at the door that seemed to be made of a slightly harder material than the other rooms.

“… Let’s go in.”

“! … Yes.”

Hearing the voice that came directly from Fleur’s mouth as she took off her gas mask, Kshat nodded and tried to turn the door handle.

But before that, if Fleur moves her hand and places it on the cold piece of metal, the two will make eye contact.

“I will do it…”

“I understand. As you wish.”

Her grandfather, Oldburn, did not place a single item related to regressors in the bedroom of the Descartes mansion where Fleur usually stayed.

If there were such things, Fleur would have been able to find out ‘exactly what kind of person’ Oldburn was.

For what purpose is he collaborating with the returnees, and why is he lending his power to them?

Is he really, like the reputation of a returner heard in the world, a being tainted by evil?

I couldn’t believe that the kind appearance he showed me was a deception.

If that kindness is directed only to himself, what should he do?

Perhaps, the answer may be in this room.

Fleur thought so, though she carefully tried to turn the handle of her door.

Crash.

The door handle does not turn properly, making a sound.

“Huh…?”

“Is it locked? If so, where is Lila…?”

“Have we gone back to Darwin’s room?”

Saying that, the two people will slowly turn their heads and look at the door to Darwin’s room that is closed a little away.

But soon, we will look again and see Descartes’ visit.

Even if Lila is not in this room, this is where they should check.

“Kshat. Please.”

“To headquarters.”

Fleur said that and carefully took a few steps back away from the door.

Then, after letting go of Fleur’s hand, Kshat puts his right foot back and takes a deep breath quietly.

And, likewise, when she clenched her right fist, she could see her muscles bulging inside her home uniform draped over her body.

When Kshat slowly pulled his right fist back, water magic shimmered around his fist.

Then.

Sigh!

And, a powerful right fist swung with the sound of cutting through the wind.

Kwasik! And he broke down the door blocking his eyes.

A shock so strong that the hinges connecting the door were torn off.

And, those who were following Kshat must have looked surprised when they saw that.

“Wow, wow!? The door!?”

“Now, is it because it’s locked? You’re not angry or anything, are you?”

When Sasha and Kuon are embarrassed, Kshat will smile and look back at them and nod his head.

“Of course. But, Laila isn’t in this room—”

“─Aaaaah!?”

“Miss!?”

Kshat, who was continuing her words, heard Fleur’s scream and looked back at her.

Then, Fleur covered her mouth with her hand and looked straight ahead –

I was looking beyond the broken door.

Then there…

“…”

Lyla was hanging upside down in the air, her whites exposed, her feet tied to steel cables sticking out from the ceiling.

“L-Lila?!”

“Layla? Why Layla?”

If Kshat runs into her room while calling her name, Kuon will rush after her after hearing Laila’s name.

And, seeing the same sight as the two people, she let out a scream and tried to take her down with the Kshat.

Then.

“Joe, be careful! Kshat!”

Fleur let out her scream once again.

A sound was heard.

Kshat noticed the location of the sound, which was upward, and moved her hand to defend her head with her arm before she moved her head.

Then, a strong pain ran through her arm along with the sound of ‘Choak!’

“Tsk…!”

Normally, as soon as she felt the sensation, Kshat would have moved her arm, but this time she could not.

When I looked up later, there was a steel cable like the one holding Laila sticking out, writhing like a cephalopod tentacle and wrapped around Kshat’s arm.

It pulled on itself so strongly that even the tall Kshat was slightly floating in the sky.

“Aaaaah…!”

“Ku, Mr. Kuon!”

And it was the same for Ku Ono who came in next to her.

In her case, she lowered her body when she heard the sound, but as she did, a cable was looped from her back to her torso, lifting her body upward.

She was in an n-shape and was struggling with her arms and legs, but she couldn’t get her cables off that much.

“Such a cable…!”

As Kshat said so, with his still free arm, he first tried to tear off the cable that bound his arm.

The very next moment.

It’s so bad!!!

“Kaaaaa!!”

“Aaaaah!”

An intense black electric current flows, exploding into the bodies of Kshat and Kuon.

“Eh!? What I just did…”

Sasha was so surprised when she saw that she couldn’t continue her words.

Black current is a magic that anyone who is a member of Cleon’s party knows.

“Mana shock…?!”

Amelia would also raise her voice as if she were embarrassed.

Thanks to this, as the body’s magic was blown away, Kshatgo Kuon could no longer move his body and became limp.

With this, I was able to understand why Lila looked like that.

… It was still a mystery why the ‘ankle’ was caught by the cable extending from above.

“This is not the time to just watch!”

Then, Melusine, who was in Sasha’s arms, spoke like that.

Outside of her room, she extended her own black antenna and swung towards her black cable.

Suddenly! When the sound was heard, her sense of touch cut off the cable, dropping the three people to the ground and freeing them.

But.

Did those cables even realize that the three people were freed?

They stretched out the cable once again to restrain the three people who had fallen to the ground.

Moreover, this time, to prevent the cable from being cut, sparks of black current continued to bounce on its surface.

“…!”

“There is no end to this!”

“Then, I have no choice but to take the three people inside…!”

With that said, Amelia steeled her resolve and was about to run inside.

“Kshat…!”

Fleur will be the first to move her feet and step into her grandfather’s room.

“Pfft, Ms. Fleur!?”

Sasha, who was embarrassed, followed behind and tried to grab her arm.

Before that, a cable from the ceiling that detected an intruder extended towards Fleur’s neck—

“Ugh…!”

Fleur did not close her eyes.

If you go a little further forward, you will be able to save Kshat.

Nevertheless, I couldn’t help but feel scared, so my feet stopped for a moment.

Only then did Fleur stop as the cable extending towards her stopped, and the red lens at the end had a brief staring contest with her, as if trying to recognize Fleur’s face.

“…”

A tense moment.

The three people outside the room must have swallowed their saliva and looked at the scene.

Then─

[Check who is subject to intrusion permission. Release the defensive posture.]

With that voice, the extended cables return to the inside of the ceiling.

Once the ceiling closed with a ‘clunk’, it never popped out again.

After seeing that, Fleur stood for a moment and then stumbled and sat down.

“Thank goodness… It stopped…”

Although she was a little reckless, it was Fleur’s decision that saved the other three people.

Phew… Fleur sighs.

At that time.

Fleur looked at the thick ‘album’ in Lila’s hand, which she had not been able to look at because she was too distracted.

Even when she lost her mind, she still had it, so it must have been quite important.

Fleur thought about what her grandfather was thinking and that maybe he was inside it.

She carefully reached in and took the album out of her hand and opened it.

Then…

“Eh…”

Fleur sounds embarrassed.

Everything contained within it-

From the first page to the last page.

The album is so full that there is no empty space.

They were all photos of Fleur.